Our volunteer in the field of a remote area
After the Quake
The April 2015, 7.8M, and May 2015 7.3M earthquakes had decimated some parts of Nepal, especially the Gorkha District. Hundreds of villages have been destroyed. More than 9000 people were killed. Over 23,000 people were injured. Nearly 700,000 people are left homeless. Nepal was already the poorest nation in the world, and the earthquakes have made Nepal even poorer.
Over 70 percent of Nepali people are substantive farmers. They don’t have any resources to rebuild. They produce corn, millet, potatoes, wheat, beans and pumpkins. Whatever they grow is for them. They don’t produce enough to sell in the marketplace.
Journey Home Foundation played a big role in rescuing and helping people after the earthquake in the remote area which was accessible only by walking.
JHF volunteers were the first to reach these remote area villages, and were the only responder for the first crucial three.
Many international agencies are focusing in or near Kathmandu or where they can drive to. Only a few aid agencies made it to these remote area villages; they have moved on. However JHF is the only organization that continues to support these villages.
Journey Home Foundation was founded to 2010 to focus on womens’ issues, especially to combat Human Trafficking. In the past five years, JHF has given vocational trainings such as chef training, sewing, cosmetology and education to nearly 60 young women and saved/rescued over 1000 young women within Nepal. Our volunteers have run over sixty awareness campaigns in over thirty villages. JHF’s volunteers are well accustomed to this area. At the same time, JHF founding members and volunteers are from the effected villages like Laprak, Gumda, Singla, Kerauja, Labu Besi, Kashiguan and many other villages. Our volunteers were first to reach remote area villages and carried the supplies for days.
After the Earthquake
The day after the earthquake we had fifty volunteers carrying rice, blankets, mattresses and instant noodle soup for the village of Laprak.
Santosh Gurung, one of JHF’s Katmandu based board directors, became outraged by the complete lack of government assistance for the region. He was interviewed on local television and thereafter met with government officials; thus JHF was able to secure helicopters and buses for their relief effort. 253 seriously injured people were rescued from twelve villages and were airlifted to the hospital in Pokhara. The helicopter was provided by the Nepal government.
In the meantime, we sent twenty-five bags each of sixty-six pounds of rice and twenty-five tents to Gumda, three hundred packages of instant noodle soup, and 1000 meter water pipes to bring clean water from river for Laprak.
Within two and three weeks, we sent thirty bags of rice each of which were sixty-six pounds,120 packages of instant noodle soup, 2000 bottles of Imodium, hygiene supplies, plastic for toilets, a couple of dozen of tubes of toothpaste and first aid. We had thirty-five porters carrying them.
In the meantime, we sent another 150 bags of rice each sixty-six pounds, 300 kg salt and 200 litters of cooking to Kerauja and neighboring villages. We got 160 mules to carry the supplies. We could not find any porters because people were scared to leave their family members due to landslides. At the same time they were frightened by aftershocks.
In week four and five, we sent 600 bags of rice, each sixty-six pounds to Laprak . For this trip, we had eight tractors. We had 350 mules carrying them. We also had sixty porters carrying supplies for the village of Khorla. We had another 360 bags of rice each sixty-six pounds, and were sent to Lapsibot and Yamgau with mules and porters, with a total of 270 porters.
We also sent another 500 meters of water pipes to bring clean water for the people of Laprak, and twenty-six blue tarps/tents and mattresses to Laprak.
JHF has delivered over 1800 bags of rice, tents, mattresses, blankets, medical supplies, salt, cooking oil, solar lamps, lentils, noodle soup, hygiene supplies, towels and solar power for electricity. We have reached over 20,000 families and households and provided over 2.2 million meals.
We had 720 porters/volunteers and 610 mules carrying these supplies.
Old Laprak Village
Laprak Village
Current Laprak Village
Many people may never be able to rebuild their homes. So many people have lost their homes and who is going to help who? The Nepal government can’t help and won’t help. Politicians are fighting amongst themselves about who is going to help. At the end, Remote area villages will be left out.
Journey Home Foundation will be focusing on rebuilding a clean drinking water system, community bathrooms, schools and clinics, and the human spirit.
Journey Home Foundation will always focus on Combating Human Trafficking to rebuild the lives of many young women. Human trafficking issues have gotten worse since the massive earthquake. Many traffickers are targeting vulnerable young girls and families with false promises – like promising to give them a good paying job and marriage. We will rescue, provide vocational training and education. Foremost, our volunteers will be running human trafficking awareness campaigns constantly to educate and inform parents, villagers and leaders.
An earthquake has destroyed the entire water supply infrastructure. JHF has provided over 2000 meters to Laprak villages and brought water from a river two miles away. It needs to be rebuilt.
To rebuild, we need:
Bathroom issues have become a health issue for many villages. We are looking to build 65 community toilets, 15 in Laprak, with a population of over 4000 people, 13 in Gumda consist of 2 villages and population of nearly 1500, 5 in Singla population of 1700, in Khorla population of about 800, 4 in Khorla Besi of 400. 2 in Machha Khola of population of about 300, 7 in Labu Besi population of 900, 7 Kerauja of about 2900, 2 in Labu population about 150, 2 in above Machha Khola village population of 200, 8 in Uhiya consist of 3 village population of 2500 and Kashiguan.
Laprak village alone has over 1300 students. The school needs to be rebuilt.
Old School Building which was destroyed
The area we are focusing on has the life expectancy 52 years. Infant mortality rate is 13% (1 in 6 children die in the weeks after birth and 50,000 die between 1 and 5 years. There are no doctors or nurses. Many children have malnutrition and lack hygiene.
JHF is planning a clinic and to establish and focus on womens’ health with nurses.
We need:
Trained nurses
Midwives
Vitamins
Remote area villages are getting left out!
Water Project
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Jerry S.
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Hank and Louise R.
To people who donated on Go Fund Me
And to everyone who made regular contribution!
For Immediate Release
San Rafael, California—The Journey Home Foundation (JHF) rescues Nepalese women and girls from human trafficking and then provides education and training to build better lives for themselves and their families. These rescues take place in the now earthquake-devastated Gorkha region. JHF’s facilities in Kathmandu have been condemned, and its girls are now in makeshift tents on the streets. The foundation’s Nepali board and many of its graduates are from Laprak, the epicenter of Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake, and the foundation is urgently raising funds to assist with rescue efforts at ground zero, where the situation is most desperate. JHF has started GoFundMe and GlobalGiving sites through its Facebook page and has raised over $16,000 of its $30,000 goal, but needs to get the word out in any way possible to meet that goal.
JHF founder Bikash Gurung is from the village of Laprak, which was built on the site of an old landslide. Ninety-five percent of the buildings there have collapsed. From Kathmandu, Laprak, after a 8 -12 hour bus ride to Gorkha Bazar, is a three-to-five-day trek by foot under optimal conditions. Since the quake, JHF has raised the funds for a helicopter and buses but is unable to secure transportation because of government priorities. With access so limited, villagers are isolated with no water, food, or shelter as their homes are destroyed and their villages are sliding down the mountain. The only way to reach them with emergency supplies is by helicopter, and the arrival of the monsoon season is threatening even that. The situation is so dire that some villagers devoid of hope are jumping to their death.
The Journey Home Foundation is in deep gratitude for the outpouring of support, prayers, and financial assistance already received.
CONTACT INFO:
JOURNEY HOME FOUNDATION, 501 (c) (3)
Bikash Gurung | Founder
Renee Marcelle | Founder
930 Irwin Street, Suite 218
San Rafael, CA 94901
Phone: 4154564444
Email: renee@marinlaw.biz, bikashgurung1979@gmail.com, reneemarcelle@gmail.com
Web: http://journeyhomefoundation.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JourneyHomeFoundation